Disregarded Values; A Reflection on "Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii"

             By watching “Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii”, I have grasped a deeper appreciation for the Aboriginal people, their values, and the hard times they have endured.  For example, I learned that the stolen artifacts of the Haida people, including their ancestors’ bones, were a huge part of their culture and were greatly honored. This was shown through the voice overs used when they finally got their ancestors bones back from the museum. I could hear cries of happiness and voices in positive shock showing me how much it meant to the them to repatriate these bones.

           Knowing how much honoring the ancestors meant to the Haida culture also made me irritated by the Europeans as they originally thought that they could just steal the Haida peoples possessions. Watching the Haida peoples faces as they described the cruel treatment of the preachers to their honorable ancestors broke my heart as I imagined something equally important being taken away from me. One interview, where a Haida elder talked about how upset it made him that the Europeans dumped their totem poles in the water, was shot from farther away. By seeing his cultural outfit and the ancestral totem poles all around him, I understood how much he valued his culture and that taking this away from him was extremely destructive. The interview then faded out at the end, clearly symbolizing how his ancestors were taken away from him which consequently left the viewer with an impulse to rescue the vanishing culture.

    With all of this in mind, “Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii” taught me about the terrible treatment towards the Aboriginals and encouraged me to fight for what I value. 

The Haida totem poles 

The Haida people repatriating their ancestors 

A Drunken Opinion; A Research Topic From "Reel Injun"

               Today and in the past, people have always believed that “Aboriginals become drunk off of smaller amounts of alcohol because of a difference in digestion processes” (Ojibwa, American Indian Alcoholism). It is then assumed that this makes them more commonly cause issues. Resultantly, "The Drunken Indian" has become one of the most well-known stereotypes against Indigenous peoples. The truth is, there is no scientific evidence behind this; “Aboriginals metabolize alcohol the same way that non-Aboriginal people do” (Thompson and Genosko, Punched Drunk: Alcohol Surveillance and the LCBO 1927-1975). As a matter of fact, according to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, “the proportion of daily drinking is actually seven times higher among non-Indigenous people” (McCue, News Stereotypes of Aboriginal Peoples). So, where did this stereotype originate then? 

                 One main source of how the Aboriginals in Canada got this stereotype comes from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s history. In 1876, the Indian Act ruled prohibition for all Indians and non-Indians who looked or acted like Indians and placed them all on the "Indian List". This law was put into place because it was believed that Aboriginal people were “more constitutionally prone to develop an inordinate craving for liquor and to lose control over their behavior when they drink” (Thompson and Genosko, Punched Drunk: Alcohol Surveillance and the LCBO 1927-1975). This became a problem when Aboriginals in the Armed Forces of WWII who were allowed to drink returned home and still wanted the privilege of consuming alcohol. So, in 1951 complete prohibition across Canada changed to optional prohibition by province. Ontario privileged partial prohibition but the Aboriginals could only drink on licensed properties, they could not purchase alcohol from the LCBO and they still had to prove that they could consume alcohol in healthy doses and be law abiding before they could gain the full right. This right was finally earned in October of 1959 and changes were made accordingly. 

               This history before 1959 created the stereotype of the “Drunken Indian” that is still known today. Since Aboriginals were prohibited from purchasing legal alcohol, Caucasians automatically assumed that they had problems with it. Then, when Aboriginals had to revert to bootleggers, they ended up drinking much more dangerous intoxicants which made them blameworthy of being problem causers and essentially gave Caucasians a reason to create this label. Also, the “Indian List” was similar to and got confused with the “Interdiction List”. The Interdiction List was a classification made by the LCBO to prohibit more dangerous drinkers from the use of alcohol, for example those who had convictions of criminal acts involving alcohol abuse, or neglected their families or suffered financially due to alcohol. Confused with the difference in lists, Caucasians believed that only Aboriginals were these prohibited dangerous drinkers and therefore the alcohol abusing Aboriginal image was created.

                Altogether, confusion of lists or historical laws is no reason to continue the belief of a myth. Society must consider and learn the truth before jumping to conclusions and discrimination.

Indians holding up stereotypical shirts sold today

A stereotypical flask sold in stores today

We Are All Human; A Relfection on "Reel Injun"

              Today our world is filled with battles for equality and fights against discrimination. Watching "Reel Injun" gave me great sympathy for the Indigenous people who struggled and continue to struggle through constant stereotypes and protests to show their true culture and identity. By reflecting on the documentary, I know that it was the continuous smart and empowering music choices mixed with past and present footage that created these strong messages to construct my empathetic feelings. For example, when the children were watching an old film about a massacre against Indigenous people, sorrowful music was played powerfully. The music, a tragic and despairing piece, was the dominant sound at this time. This informed the viewer that the young students know themselves much better than the way Hollywood portrayed them in the film. Secondly, the documentary used historical footage to show Sacheen Littlefeather refusing an award on behalf of Marlon Brandon. At the same time, gloomy music was yet again played. Both of these show that the Indigenous people should not have had to feel the way they were feeling (scared, angry, sad, etc.) in these instances. They should not have had to refuse awards or be afraid of watching old ancestral films, but because of the cruel stereotypes and treatment that Hollywood gives them, that depressing tone is the feeling they lived with everyday and the music reflected that. In this case, "Reel Injun" was an eye opener for me as the saying "you can't believe everything you see" held true.

"The Warrior" and the feather headbands; two of the greatest Indian stereotypes in film 

Sacheen Littlefeather refusing the Academy Award, 1973

Hypocritical Ways; A Second Reflection for "We Were Children"

          Residential Schools; a place where the Christian religion was forced upon Indigenous children. You would think that because priests are Christian that they would follow the Christian religion, right? Wrong. 

          My next reaction to "We Were Children" was complete and utmost anger and disgust. The priests at the school were supposed to be dedicated to the Christian religion, however they continuously sexually abused the young Indigenous girls and boys. They called themselves Christians, yet they completely disregarded the values and practices which therefore purely just makes them repulsive sinners.

         Re-enactments and interviews aided me in having this reaction. For instance, the documentary re-enacted Lyna being sexually abused in the infirmary. This forced the viewer to disturbingly re-live the priest breathing intensely while on top of an innocent child. Watching this sent chills of sheer hatred towards the priests down my spine and gave me a desire to switch back time so that I could save the suffering, betrayed and exposed children. Then, when Lyna was being interviewed as an adult, as the light barely revealed her face, she struggled to explain what had happened to her during this incident. This struggle was visible evidence of the everlasting pain and torturous memories that will never go away.

         The priests attempted to convince the world that they were making Canada a better place, when really under their vestments they were dangerous criminals. This documentary revealed the hypocritical ways of the so called "Christian" priests and left me infuriated with the residential school employees.

The Terminating Tuberculosis; A Research Topic From "We Were Children"

          Imagine a school where you eat the same blended leftovers for each meal, get physically and sexually abused and are punished for not speaking a language that you do not understand. Now, picture all of that but add deathly diseases on top. Unfortunately what you are picturing right now is the residential schools that did not just traumatize Indigenous children, but they jeopardized their health with massively exterminating diseases as well. Of these diseases, tuberculosis was by far the most popular. “Tuberculosis is an infectious bacterial disease that grows tubercles in any tissue in the body, but most commonly attacks the lungs. It makes for severe coughing, troubles breathing and can ultimately lead to fatality if it is not treated” (Tuberculosis).  As of right now, it has been recorded that “approximately 150, 000 children died in residential schools and of these 150 000 students majority died because of this awful disease” (Walker, New documents may shed light on residential school deaths).

           Tuberculosis was such a major issue because the schools were poorly ventilated and there was extreme malnutrition and overcrowding. As a result of these, germs stayed within the schools, children's immune systems were too weak to fight any diseases, and the schools were so crammed that the students’ beds were basically touching, thus ensuring the spread of the disease. Consequently, “more than 24% of the children had died from tuberculosis in 1907 at residential schools, which was one hundred times the national average death rate” (Daitch, Sarah Daitch: Exposing the dark legacy of residential schools). These mortality rates were so high because even though the school administers knew about the disease, there was treacherous ignorance towards the prevention, spreading and treatment of it. The residential schools knowingly mixed the sick children with the healthy children which only made the disease become more viral throughout the schools. These practices were so obviously seen that in 1907 the “Chief Medical Officer for the Federal Department of Indian Affairs, Dr. Peter Bryce, informed the Deputy Superintendent for Indian Affairs that "the conditions are being deliberately created in our Indian boarding schools to spread infectious diseases. The death rate often exceeds 50 percent. This is a national crime.”” (Neufeld, Thousands of native children died in Canada's residential schools). 

Overcrowding

              Additionally, it is thought that the deaths of these children were pre-planned. When designing the schools, cemeteries were consciously laid out. This arouse suspicions that officials knew they would be killing children who came to live there. Even more, when children died of tuberculosis, school officials did not even have the dignity to send their bodies home to be buried peacefully. To them, this was an unnecessary expense so instead they just quickly and quietly buried the children in their own cemeteries without a care. 

Residential School cemetery

               Tuberculosis was an exceedingly widespread disease among the children at residential schools that did not receive proper treatment and ultimately lead to thousands of preventable deaths. It is through information like this that we learn just how cruel residential schools were. 

The Thief of an Identity; A Reflection on "We Were Children"

          Before viewing the documentary "We Were Children", I knew very little about residential schools. After watching it, I have come to realize that these so called "homes" were only places where Indigenous children were stripped from their once known identity.

          Throughout the film I was constantly in utter shock and disbelief as to why the nuns and priests thought that forcing the children to speak English or depriving them of their own clothing was right. It was completely disheartening to see the children's culture slip away in a place remotely far from their familiar homes. For instance, the first thing the nuns did to Lyna when she got to the school was aggressively snip off her beautiful hair. This was part of her Indigenous and personal identity and cutting that off was removing a part of who she was. To emphasize this, the sound effect of slicing scissors was predominantly heard. Hearing only this made my heart drop as I felt sorry for the little girl whose torturous life was just beginning. Then, Glen was vigorously screamed at when he tried to speak his native language. Subtitles were used during this to show that he was just explaining that he did not understand, which only made my annoyance towards the ignorant nuns worse.

          All of this makes me loathe the schools as they did not even try to accommodate the children, rather they only cared about burying their culture. This piece was extremely difficult to watch as I believe that one's culture and identity is their own personal decision and that choice should not be stolen from anyone.

Residential School Indigenous child before and after